The present invention relates generally to a sheeting head, and more particularly to a sheeting head apparatus of the type that is used to roll and flatten quantities of dough, such as bread dough, before it is baked or otherwise processed prior to baking. The sheeting operation generally equally distributes air cells trapped in the dough, and impacts the appearance and consistency of the final baked product.
Dough sheeting devices have long been used to roll and flatten dough in commercial bakeries before the dough is baked into various products. U.S. Pat. No. 2,746,401, issued May 22, 1956, to Archer, for example, shows one such dough rolling and sheeting device, which is used for rolling bread dough after the dough has been divided into dough pieces of appropriate size for baking into bread loaves. This is a process called molding in which the dough is formed into the shape of the finished process, after it has been proofed and divided into the appropriate size portions. In the device shown in the Archer patent, the dough is sheeted, curled, rolled and then sealed. The molder receives the dough piece as a flattened spheroid. It is flattened further by passing through a series of counter rotating roller pairs into a thick sheet and then into a loose cylinder shape with appropriate rolls or belts. The dough piece is then sealed to allow it to expand without separating into layers.
The Archer patent recognizes the propensity of the bread dough to stick to rollers as it is being processed. To avoid this, Archer takes the conventional approach of providing rollers that are covered with relatively thick, somewhat soft, sleeves of tetrafluorethylene material, such as Teflon®. It is typical to use rollers that have a 0.5 inch thick sleeve of Teflon. While Teflon prevents the dough from sticking and jamming the sheeting head, it is not as durable as desired. Once the roller sleeve is damaged, as by feeding through dough pieces of too great a thickness or by feeding through two dough pieces at once, stacked one on the other, referred to as a double, the non-stick properties of the roller decline very rapidly. Additionally, prior art rollers with Teflon sleeves wear rapidly, requiring relatively frequent, time consuming and expensive roller replacement.
It is seen, therefore, that there is a need for an improved sheeting head which is capable of dealing with doubles without jamming, and for such a sheeting head in which the surfaces of the rollers are less likely to be damaged and are capable of operating for extended periods without the necessity of replacement.